Tarot Card Meanings

Just got your first tarot deck?

Or, maybe you've been doing readings for yourself and you're thinking about reading for friends?

Either way, you're probably feeling a mix of excitement and "holy crap, what did I get myself into?"

I get it. When I first started, I was convinced I needed to memorize every single card meaning before I could even think about doing a "real" reading. I spent weeks with my nose buried in books, trying to remember whether the Seven of Cups meant illusion or opportunity or both. (Spoiler alert: it was a complete waste of time and the wrong way to go about learning the cards.)

Guess what? You don't need to be perfect. You don't need to memorize everything. In fact, trying to memorize every card will actually set your learning back. Do you need to learn the traditional meanings of the cards? Yes. But you need to hold off on that. Trust me. Your intuition will teach you as you go, and once you start to actually trust your intuition, then you can start learning the traditional meanings.

But you’re here on my website so I’m guessing you wanna know what the cards mean.

Look, I'm gonna be real with you - most tarot card meaning guides out there are boring as hell. Now there are so great ones but there are plenty full of stuffy, overly mystical language that makes tarot sound way more complicated than it actually is. Tarot is supposed to be fun, insightful, and actually useful in your real life! Not some intimidating ritual that requires a PhD in symbolism.

I've been reading tarot professionally for about 7 years, and I've done a lot of readings for people from all walks of life. And you know what I've learned? The cards don't care about your fancy spreads or whether you can recite every symbol on the Rider-Waite deck. They care about truth. They care about your respect.

The best readings I've ever given happened when I stopped trying to be the "perfect" mystical reader and started having real conversations with people about what the cards were showing us. When someone pulls The Tower and their face goes white because they immediately think about their crumbling marriage - that's the card working. When The Three of Pentacles shows up and they start talking about a work project they're excited about - that's intuition in action.

The traditional meanings are just the starting point. Your intuition is the magick.

After years of reading for real people with real problems, I've learned that context is everything. The Ten of Swords hits different when you're talking to someone going through a divorce versus someone dealing with workplace drama. Same card, totally different conversation.

I'm sharing what I've actually learned from all those readings - not just the textbook definitions, but the real-world meanings that show up when people are sitting across from you, spilling their hearts out. The patterns I've noticed, the combinations that always seem to appear together, the cards that make people laugh or cry or have those "holy shit, that's exactly what's happening" moments. The I’ve made grown skeptical men cry moments. (I wasn’t trying to, I promise!)